No one saw this coming, and not that it’s happened it appears a healthy contingent of Marlins fans is not happy. Early Sunday morning, Logan Morrison sent out the following tweet: Thx guys 4 all of ur kind words & support. Really means a lot! “A bend in the road isnt the end of the road…unless u fail 2 make the turn”

Morrison is the first to admit he’s not having the kind of season he or the Marlins expected, but his play of late did not merit a demotion to Triple-A New Orleans. After Saturday’s loss to the Giants, the Marlins stunned Morrison and all observers by optioning him to the minors with three weeks of that season remaining.

The Marlins told Morrison they were sending him down because of his .249 batting average. Speaking cryptically, Morrison said some off-field incident, which he would not discuss, was the likely impetus. He didn’t think his Twitter habits and outspoken nature had anything to do with it.

Morrison through his insanely popular Twitter account (@LoMoMarlins), earlier in the day apologized to his close to 60,000 followers for not attending Saturday’s meet and greet with season ticket holders. It’s unclear what if any role his absence at that even factored into the transaction.

Reconciling this strictly in baseball terms is tough. If the Marlins indeed had another reason for shipping him out, why wouldn’t they tell him instead of leaving it at the batting average explanation?

The Marlins are not a better team without Morrison right now. They are not accerlating his professional development sending him to Triple-A for three weeks worth of games.

For whatever reason, they must feel like they needed to humble him. Maybe this will help him in the long run, but the short-term benefits are difficult to pinpoint. The Twitterverse is equally confounded. I had one Twitter user (@mattlazear) tell me the Morrison move should have happened months ago. Otherwise, every tweet directed toward me was pro-Morrison.

Even Keith Olbermann sided with Morrison, tweeting: “If you bat a guy third at 7 then send him to the minors at 10, it ain’t him (@LoMoMarlins) McKeon, Beinfest, Loria – it’s you

Here’s a sampling of tweets directed at my handle (@JCRMarlinsbeat):

@Spettus_24 why in gods name was Lomo sent to AAA?; @arigmark why would we send @LoMoMarlins down? Makes no sense to me at all. One of our bright spots; @whitehotjd This makes no sense at all; @rob5468 is this a personality issue..did he rub Jack the wrong way, can’t see the logic in this move; @janewins1 Sounds like a Loria move; he doesn’t tolerate insubordination (e.g., Girardi). I don’t think he knows how popular LoMo is;

@marlinfan36 we need a new front office for god sake…; @WickedOrtega What are the Marlins smoking, sending down LoMo WTF?; @MLBBoca What’s to get with the worthless crap we call a front office?; @Rene_Bullsfan23 I’d understand sending Lomo down in June/July. But now? Don’t rosters expand soon? What’s this incident he referred to?; @cavanaghryan unless they traded for the 2004-2007 version of Bonds I don’t get it; @Rizzmiggizz If BA is the logic they used, Gaby is hitting .195 in the last month, send him down too;

@GOBBLEX239 @If Lomo was sent down due to “low” .249 BA. Then should Wise, Cameron, Petersen, Buck, Hanley be sent down as well? #joke; @tomsmokedog @The Marlins might as well swap out the whole team with the Zephyrs, by their lomo logic; @mdelafe Seems to me that the Marlins have a split clubhouse. Who are they trying to please with these moves?; @CharlesMilian He is a fan favorite, so was Ross, Uggla, is this the way to excite the fan base for the new stadium next year? @James_Bondman Bad PR move for Marlins to make with ballpark, are they that dumb?

If I had a Twitter, I would be right there with all the other fans. Pardon my French, but them demoting LoMo is just bull****. I know we as fans say it too many times, but I’ve had it with the FO and with Loria. MLB needs to come in and rescue the Marlins before Loria turns them into the next Expos.

SB, seriously? THIS is the straw that broke the camel’s back? Not the years of firing managers, not spending money, keeping Wes Helms around, trading “fan favorites” (whatever that means) like Cody and Uggla, getting nothing for Cabrera…THIS move, demoting a guy for at MOST three weeks, is the one that will push you over?

Loria is a control freak. He is the one who demanded maybin be traded. He is the one who blocked the trade of miguel cabrera for ervin santana and howie kendrick and then demands the only good thing in maybin the marlins got back be traded as well. The front office was for the deal with the angels and loria said no. The front office had no intention of trading maybin when they had nothing else in center field but loria woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

How you do run a franchise based on loria’s mood swings. Morrison said it was the owner that fired the hitting coach and that is why he was demoted.

Batting average? He has 17 home runs and 60 rbi’s on a team that can’t hit. Who is replacing him? Peterson? Morrison has been hitting lately got a home run late against the mets, got the key hit against matt cain a triple up the gap for the win.

This move is classic Loria. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again. It’s his team and he’ll do what he wants, but you can only disappoint and anger your fan base so many times before they capitulate. I haven’t watched a Marlins game since the All Star Break. I follow Juan on Twitter, have many Marlins fans for Twitter friends and of course, I follow LoMo. But it gets more and more difficult to even care.

Starting the season without a 3B, with the Cogz experiment in CF, with no offense to replace Ross, Uggla, hell even Cantu. The 2011 Marlins are basically a good minor league team with a legit Number 1 SP in JJ, a slightly overrated SS, and a few good arms in the pen we just picked up for a season.

If we can’t even be secure in our budding relationships with young kids making their start in the Bigs like LoMo, Stanton, Gaby, etc. what are we hanging around for as fans? The Manatees? The Mermaids? Arroz con Frijoles Field?

I almost wish I could be a fan of another team. I’ve tried, but it doesn’t work.

@marlinsbuzztap the most significant moves in baseball are the ones no one understands. Give Mckeon a shot. He’ll bring him up when he feels he’s ready. just cause Lomo is popular it does not mean he’s unable to get demoted. if it wasn’t Mckeons call then he’ll be back in Miami in no time.

Thank you Logan, for playing a year with the Marlins, I will be surprised if you are back with the team ever again. You spoke your mind, you spoke the truth and the one thing the ownership here hates is that. They like goose steppers and brown nosers and that’s not you. I’ve enjoyed your play and hope you get a chance elsewhere and i will continue to be a fan of yours even if you get shipped off to the hated Mets, Phillies or Braves.

How could they send the 2nd best player on the team
to the loser minor leagues ??? Logan is a class act
who plays hard every day and is a joy to watch on the
field. I will never attend another Marlin home again
as a result of this decision….

As a Phillies fan living in S. Florida, I have watched this ownership and previous owners as well ship an unbelievable amount of talent to other clubs. The ex-Marlins in baseball would be a top-rated all-star team. What I don’t understand is how a kid who is gutsy, a grinder and has talent as well can be treated like this. The young nucleus (including Morrison) promises to deliver many great moments to the fans down here (assuming they don’t get traded because of their cost). Something like this does not help the club in any sense, either from a baseball standpoint or a fan support. The Marlins need all the fans they can get. Morrison’s Twitter account is an example of how you can inexpensively market baseball in South Florida. This ownership destroyed baseball in Montreal and now promises to do the same in South Florida. How can the fans reasonably expect to be loyal when the ownership has continuously showed how disloyal they are to the fans? It’s unfortunate and hopefully, Morrison realizes that it’s not his fault, but rather his bad luck which brought him to play under such a bunch of amateur owners.

i am a transplanted marlin fan living in vegas…..what a different club this is from the hustle and attitude in april and may! jack is a great baseball man(look at how he changed bono ! dont know whats wrong with the team…but it needs to be fixed…or next year will be just as bad is this year.

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About the author

JUAN C. RODRIGUEZ
My career covering the Marlins has been all about good timing. At Florida Today, I became the...